Saint Louis College

Beacon of Wisdom of the North

City of San Fernando, La Union

Lesson 9: Subjective Well-Being

 There are several reasons why the field of well-being is flourishing at the moment:
 First, Western countries have achieved a sufficient level of affluence, so that
survival is no longer a central factor in people’s lives. Quality of life is
becoming more important than matters of economic prosperity.
 Personal happiness is becoming more important because of growing trends
towards individualism.
 Finally, a number of valid and reliable measures have been developed,
which have allowed the study of well-being to establish itself as a serious
and recognized discipline (Diener et al., 2001).

Top-Down and Bottom-Up Theories

 When studying the topic of satisfaction with life, there have been two general
approaches to the question of what is important for happiness.
 Bottom-Up Theory: Well-being is a summation of the positive experiences in
person’s life. It assumes that people create their self-ratings of subjective well-
being by summing up a variety of external circumstances and making a
judgement. The more frequent pleasant moments, the happier a person will be.
 In support with the bottom-up approach, impoverished countries reported
lower level of subjective well-being.
 It focuses on changing the situation and environment that a person
experiences-better jobs, safer neighborhoods, and more income.
 Top-Down Theory: This approach is measured by looking at personality traits,
attitudes, or the ways a person interprets experiences in life.
 Certain personality traits, attitudes, and self-perceptions are highly
correlated with self-reported subjective well-being.
 According to the research of Diener and Larson (1984), 57% of the variation
in happiness score was a result of personality and only 23% was due to
summary of situational events.

Predictors of Subjective Well-Being

 The six core variables that best predict happiness and satisfaction with life at least
in Western industrialized cultures.
1. Positive Self-Esteem
 It is associated with adaptive functioning, less delinquency, greater
anger control, greater intimacy and satisfaction in relationships,
more ability to care for others, and a heightened capacity for
creative and productive work.
 It provides a sense of meaning and value. It is helpful guide to
negotiate interpersonal relationship.
 However, in China, a collectivist country, self-esteem is found to be
less important predictor.

2. Sense of Perceived Control

 It refers to the belief that one has some measure of control over
events in life that are personally important. Likewise, it is the
individual’s belief that he or she can behave in ways that maximize
good outcomes and/or minimize bad outcomes.
 Saint Louis College
Beacon of Wisdom of the North
City of San Fernando, La Union

 It encourages emotional, motivational, behavioural, and

physiological vigor in the face of demands.

3. Extroversion
 An extroverted person is someone who is interested in things outside
himself or herself such as physical and social environments and is
oriented to the world of experiences external to self.
 It has been shown that it predicts level of happiness up to thirty years
from the initial testing.
 Larsen and Kasimatis found that there is a rise of positive mood after
Wednesday and a drop on Sunday.
 Sociability component of extroversion is related to well-being. The
number of friends a person has is related to his or her well-being.
 Extroverts are wired to have greater sensitivity to positive rewards
and stronger reactions to pleasant events.

4. Optimism
 In general, people who are more optimistic about the future report
being happier and more satisfied with life.
 Optimists experience less distress than pessimists when dealing with
difficulties in their lives. For example, they suffer much less anxiety
and depression.
 Optimists adapt better to negative events (including coronary artery
bypass surgery, breast cancer, abortion, bone marrow
transplantation and AIDS).
 Optimists are capable of learning lessons from negative situations.
Thus optimists have a coping advantage over pessimists.
 Perhaps surprisingly, optimists don’t tend to use denial, whereas
pessimists often attempt to distance themselves from the problem.
 Optimists exert more continuous effort and tend not to give up,
possibly assuming that the situation can be handled successfully in
one way or another. Pessimists, on the other hand, are far more likely
to anticipate disaster – and, as a result, are more likely to give up.
 Optimists report more health-promoting behaviours (like eating a
healthy diet or having regular medical check-ups) and enjoy better
physical health than pessimists.
 Optimists seem to be more productive in the workplace (Robbins et
al., 1991; Carver & Scheier, 2002).

5. Positive Social relationships

 One of the strongest predictors (and not only correlates!) of
happiness is social relationships. In fact, to be happy we need to
spend six to seven hours a day in social settings, and up to nine if our
jobs are stressful (Rath & Harter, 2010).
 In their study of exceptionally happy people (10% of 222 college
students), Diener and Seligman (2002) found only one main
difference between the happiest and the rest of the students. The
very happy people had a rich and fulfilling social life. They spent the
 Saint Louis College
Beacon of Wisdom of the North
City of San Fernando, La Union

least time alone, had good relationships with friends and had a
current romantic partner.

6. A Sense of Meaning and Purpose to Life

 Purpose is defined as a personally meaningful, relatively stable
intention that guides behavior, is characterized by active
engagement, and contributes to the world beyond oneself (Damon
et al., 2003). Meaning making is a basic human motivation and a
relevant construct across all phases of life, especially circumstances
characterized by immeasurable stress and suffering (Frankl, 1990).
 Sense of purpose has significant and meaningful association with
o Hope
o Academic Improvement
o Physical Health
o Psychological Well-being
o Openness and Contentment
o Connection with Mundane Tasks
o Buffering Stress
o Emotional Recovery

 Development of Sense of Purpose among Youth: In order to grow

from seed to bud, it needs supportive relationship with people…
1. …who can give guidance
2. …who have specific passion
3. …who possess relevant character strengths and skills
4. …who have a desire to contribute to others

 Three routes towards the development of sense of purpose

1. Social Learning Pathway
 Observing others engage in purposeful action
2. Proactive Learning Pathway
 Partaking in one’s own exploration of purposeful activities
3. Reactive Pathway
 Responding to a significant or transformative life events
(e.g. adversity)

 Growing a Sense of Purpose during the Pandemic

 Engage whole heartedly in a goal-directed action or
meaningful activity such as reading, writing, learning, and
building.
 Build your skills, strengths, and values.
 Reflect mindfully on your personal values and priorities.
 Gain a sense of control and contribution. Make a
difference and sail beyond oneself.
 Recognize opportunities to inspire others to become
purposeful. Not everyone may have a cape but everyone
could be a hero.
 Saint Louis College
Beacon of Wisdom of the North
City of San Fernando, La Union

 Cultivate meaningful relationships. Everyone needs a

home and it is during this uncertain times that everyone
has to be connected.

Cognition: Is the Glass Half Full or Half-Empty

 The causes of subjective well-being are the result of how people process
information about themselves, others, and their environment.
 It is not necessarily the events of our lives that cause the happiness or unhappiness,
rather it how we interpret those events that really cause us to feel more positive
and optimistic.
 Cognition Creates Positive Self-esteem: Self-reflexivity means that we can take our
self as an object in awareness and evaluate it from second vantage point. In the
process of comparison we choose something that is intimately tied to our self-
esteem, memories about the past, and expectations of the future.
 Social Comparison Processes and Well-being: One of the most persistent ways
that we use to evaluate ourselves. When comparing ourselves with others,
however, we can use people who are similar to ourselves (lateral social
comparison), people who we view as better than we are on some dimension
(upward social comparison), and people who we view as less fortunate than we
are (downward social comparison). Our choice of strategy has a relationship to
our well-being.
 Studies have found that people who report being happier tend to
use downward social comparison than upward social comparison.
 Direct relationship between level of happiness and downward social
comparison.
 People who are happier become selective in the comparison they
make.